Citizen oversight necessary for police and communities
Properly constituted, balanced civilian oversight boards serve as the bridge between a professional police department’s internal professional standards mechanism and elected leaders, such as mayors and council members, attempting to exercise strategic leadership for municipalities. These disinterested, unbiased boards, performing duties under an oath of neutrality, can give confidence back to communities that police acts or omissions will receive comprehensive oversight, balanced by fairness to the reality of the difficult and occasionally dangerous jobs law enforcement professionals perform every day.
In the commonwealth, several jurisdictions have embraced and adopted civilian oversight boards. In Virginia Beach, the Investigation Review Panel, adopted in the wake of the 1989 Greek Week unrest, has existed since 1991. Though badly in need of strengthening and improvement, it has provided some measure of oversight for 30 years, less the seven years it was inexcusably dormant. Charlottesville has formed a board with a smart composition and board rotation model, and Richmond is in the process of forming — and resourcing — a robust board.
Yet despite the enabling legislation passed by the 2020 special session of the General Assembly, jurisdictions such as Norfolk and Roanoke have been slow to take the cues of the state legislature. Norfolk, for example, has made zero progress since the statute was enacted, even though the city was virtually Virginia’s Ground Zero for officer-involved shootings from 2010-16.
In rural areas where localities cannot muster the resources, capacity or political will to form workable civilian police oversight mechanisms, counties and municipalities could form police oversight consortiums to share the human and financial costs. Bath County might find it difficult to form an effective board from a population of 4,300 people, but if joined with the five surrounding counties, including the independent cities of Staunton and Lexington, the population balloons to 153,500, about the same as Alexandria.
The governor could form a commission to collect best practices and study the successes and failures of police oversight boards nationwide. These boards vary in their constitution and authority, from independent, formidable boards in New York City and Chicago, to less powerful boards in places such as St. Louis and Virginia Beach. This commission could analyze the types of board formations, fact-gathering methodologies, and board powers and authorities, and provide a study capturing these characteristics as a “how to” guide for local board formation throughout the commonwealth.
The commonwealth should also study formation of a state-level board to exercise civilian oversight where local officials cannot or will not, including sheriff’s offices currently statutorily exempted. A state civilian police oversight board would require statutory authorization from the General Assembly but is consistent with the Dillon Rule in which the commonwealth retains governance authorities not granted to or exercised by local jurisdictions. Perhaps the idea of a police oversight “Eye in the Sky” in Richmond would inspire local jurisdictions to take the concept of civilian oversight seriously, though the requirement for the state to review and periodically inspect civilian oversight mechanisms Virginia-wide for good faith execution and efficacy should remain.
The relationship between the police and Virginia communities is strained, with this perception overwhelmingly coloring the trust between police and minorities. Properly constituted, representative and competent police oversight boards are not a panacea for the conflict between law enforcement and society, but they can build confidence while providing increased accountability and incentivizing standards-based training, officer conduct monitoring, and professional policing performance. Demonstrably effective civilian oversight might also protect municipalities from investigation by federal authorities, as is about to occur in Minneapolis and has occurred in other cities, such as Baltimore and Chicago.
One of the hallmarks of a profession, as opposed to a vocation, is the willingness to yield to oversight and accountability to neutral standards. Police have lost, and in some cases forfeited, trust in many communities, and now is the time for extraordinary measures to regain it.
Business-as-usual policing is a thing of the past. We are past the point of no return where this issue is dominated by police resentment of oversight.
Police and city leaders should be focused on how to construct boards with appropriate powers which reassure communities of accountability while providing fair procedures for officers and their supervisors. The commonwealth must stand ready to ensure effective, fair oversight is occurring in every community in Virginia.